Revision TKR ArmyVet's recovery thread<<

ArmyVet

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I had my surgery yesterday!!! I'm doing ok with the knee itself.. but I am having some SEVERE pain in my thigh muscle from the surgery and the tourniquet. Is there anything I can do to make this feel better?? I have huge knots in the muscle, and if I can get rid of those knots, I won't have ANY pain from the TKR...
 
Oh bless your heart. Many complain about that tourniquet pain. It will go away, but that's not helping right now. Have you tried icing it? That may help. I will leave you the recovery articles that will help answer many questions that you might have.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines

1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now; they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. Here is a week-by-week guide for Activity progression for TKRs


The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?

Energy drain for TKRs

Elevation is the key

Ice to control pain and swelling

Heel slides and how to do them properly

Chart representation of TKR recovery

Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
 
If you're still in hospital, ask for more pain medication because of the pain in your thigh.

If you're at home, make sure you're taking your pain medications on a strict, regular schedule.
If that doesn't work, phone your surgeon and ask for a review of your pain medications.
 
Congrats on the new knee! I can only echo Celle's advice. As to your TKR pain, I'm happy that you don't have any pain from that at the moment. But remember, this recovery isn't a straight line, it will go up and down many times and you will have great days and not so great days. Just stay on a regular pain med schedule, rest, elevate and ICE, ICE, ICE! Read the recovery articles, and don't over do things. Good luck!
 
I had my TKR yesterday and have the same thigh pain. Just upped my painkillers to see if that will help
 
Welcome. I'm glad you are doing well. But for many of us, we felt pretty good for the first day or even a few days post op. Then all the hospital drugs wore off. My sister had knee surgery a couple of years before I did and she warned me that for the first two weeks I would be sorry i had it done. At one day post op I was sure I was going to do much better than that. And a one week post op, I realized she was right. It does get better. I'm nearly 10 months out and i have my life back. But it is a long haul.
 
I found that I needed some extra pain relief the first two weeks. My doc proscribed 10 days of oxycontin on top of the percoset and that made a big difference. Talk to the nurse about your pain.
 
having some SEVERE pain in my thigh muscle from the surgery and the tourniquet. Is there anything I can do to make this feel better??
I had tourniquet pain with my first knee. It was a nightmare and I could only move my leg with the aid of a leg lifter (the link to Amazon only works in here Recovery Aids: A comprehensive list for hospital and home by the way). I was lucky, mine faded away after a few days but not everyone is that lucky. And there is very little you can do to ease your pain. Nothing helps - not pain meds, ice, nothing. Sorry!

leg lifter.jpg
 
I called my doc's office, and his nurse asked him for some muscle relaxers for me. I pick up the prescription today, so I will see how it goes. Sleeping most of the night except for a trip to the bathroom 330-400am each night due to all the water I'm drinking to combat the oxy dry mouth! But then I lay right back down and I'm back asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow!!! A little stiff in the am so far, but am icing and sleeping with the leg up above the heart as much as I can for the swelling.
 
I was able to sleep in my own bed too, sleep is the best restorative drug that is made!!
 
How blessed you are to be able to sleep! That is wonderful for your healing!
 
Can I ask a question from others that have had TKR?? I'm 1 week post op, doing well, except for swelling (being addressed with therapist and ortho doc), but to be honest, I am NOT hungry, and not eating much. Is this normal/ ok???
 
I am from the hip side, but I can tell you that my appetite was never normal while I was on pain meds. It's important to eat though, so try to find things that appeal to you. Maybe smaller meals would work better. I ate weird things, like canned pears and goldfish crackers. Not at the same time.

Sent from my SM-S327VL using Tapatalk
 
One week out of surgery I wasn’t eating much either. I didn’t worry about it and I didn’t eat anything I didn’t want. I don’t remember how long it took but before too long I had my appetite back.
 
I had no appetite while on painkillers and pretty much had to force myself to eat anything except chilled fruit cocktails and graham crackers. My poor sweet husband did his best to heat up tasty pre-cooked food and I would barely eat it. That went on until I stopped the pain-killers and the iron pills I was taking (they were just as bad because they caused nausea).

So yes, lots of us lose our appetites! You’ll get it back in full.
 
@ArmyVet Not sure if you still have thigh pain.... my surgery was on the 2nd and too had that pain. It’s lessened a lot but massaging it and icing it make it feel better. Hope yours is better.
 
Still have the thigh pain, although it's much less since the doc gave me muscle relaxers. Therapist says I am doing fantastic- but I still have a lot of swelling that I hope will go down soon!!!
 

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